A journal about the English Language

Is this guy fo’ real?

Australian politicians aren’t speaking correctly – they are the poorest speakers in the English-speaking world.

Australia’s speech manner is seen as “unthreatening” and are perceived as “laid-back” to other countries

Schools are not teaching students adequate communication skills

Wants everyone to value verbal expression as equal to literacy and numeracy.

Language Features: Prescriptivism, Neologisms, Australian SlangCourse Aspects: Unit 3&4 - AoS 1;1 - Informal Language & Language Variation in Australian Society: the role of Standard and non-Standard English in creating formal and informal texts, the role of Standard and non-Standard English in Australian society

Personal Opinion: I think that politicians should have basic knowledge of how to speak, when most of them (sometimes mainly Tony Abbott) can’t even say words like ‘Government’ correctly. Because when you speak to a national audience, everyone is watching you and listening to you, and they will immediately either hate you or like you depending on what you say and how you say it. I don’t believe it is wholly the schools fault for not giving students adequate communication skills, and I certainly don’t believe that verbal expression is as important as literacy and numeracy.

“Quotes”:

“It is typically Australian to be suspicious of people who speak too well.”

“The unified Aussie accent is a complex soup of many accented languages – including English, German, Aboriginal, Irish, Scottish, Italian, Greek, as well as more recent regional influences.”

“Australian speech patterns reflect a long-standing cultural imperative to communicate understatedly and stoically – and to be wary of bullshitting.”

“If Australia does have a national speech problem, then our schools are culpable for failing to equip students with adequate communication skills.”